Detective Duckseth
by onyxbishop
Summary: A strange thing has happened on Fleet Street. Rumours spew from the mouths of speculating citizens. What happened to the barber? What happened to the baker? Elizabeth Duckseth leads the way as head detective on the case. Her main goals: to find out just what happened and what horrors really took place in the small businesses.
1. Prologue

The sun was rising, revealing a dewy April morning as the city started to wake up. Women in beautiful dresses walked down the street as carriages road past big and small businesses.

It was 8 in the morning, the time that every shop on Fleet Street opened up, and Mrs. Lovett's was no exception, which, I suppose is why everyone was walking past the shop with confused looks on their faces, having planned to buy a pie or two, only to find the door locked.

It went on like this for days and no one had seen the skunk haired barber or moody baker. People started to worry, then they started to gossip, then they started to panic, when finally the police got involved.

Not only had Mrs. Lovett and Mr. Todd disappeared, but Beadle, the judge and many others, and that's when people start to wonder.

A man named Arnold Johnson was sent to check the place out. He knocked on the door, no one answered, then, picking the lock, he broke in.

He hadn't been in the place since his first (and last) time, when he found out just why no one came; the pies were simply horrid.

But the atmosphere of the pie shop had completely changed. Tables were covered by lace clothes, windows were clean, letting in morning sun and there wasn't a speck of dust in the place (except what as able to build up after a week of not being cleaned).

"Hello?!" No answer.

He went on like this for about an hour, yelling in every room to see if anyone could here him.

After completely exploring the barber shop, restaurant and attached living space he slumped down in a chair. Were could they have gone? Everything is still here, things that they wouldn't just leave without. No signs of a robbery or struggle and...and...what WAS that smell?

He got up and followed his nose to a hidden staircase that he hadn't seen before. The smell seemed to be coming from the vents that came from behind the large door.

Slowly, he picked his way down the stair and opened the door, completely unprepared for what met his eyes next.


	2. Chapter 1

I woke up that morning to the sound of my grandfather clock ringing. 7 in the morning?!

Hopping out of bed I started to pull on my corset. How had I slept for so long? My boss would not be a happy man if I was late.

Finally finishing dressing myself I grabbed a cup of tea and headed out the door were I started speed walking to the station.

Yesterday I had finished a case were a man's head head been sawn off from his body, before he was dead. My gut started to churned every time I thought of the picture: a man, his head and a saw. I had never seen so much blood in my life.

The station was in an unusual sulky funk that day and I seemed to be the only happy person in the place as I walked by fellow detectives, saying friendly hellos only to get a small nod back.

When I finally came to my boss's office to see what my next case was, he have me a stern look. "Sit down Elizabeth."  
I did as he said, sitting down in the chair on the other side of his desk.

"As you may have heard, there have been some very mysterious disappearances lately, most recently of Mr. Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Eleanor Lovett. Yesterday morning we sent a young man, Arnold Johnson, to check the pie shop and barber shop. He came back with some disturbing news." The large man looked me in the eye. "Mr. Todd was found along with the remains of Mrs. Lovett, the judge and many others, most unidentifiable because they had been dismembered and only their bloody bones were left."

I was baffled. He wanted ME to take care of this? I had grown up with Eleanor in school, she had been my friend for some time."Eleanor is...d-dead?"

"You knew her?"

"I grew up with here...how did she die?" I started to tear up.

"She was burned in an oven. If you don't want this case, then we can find someone else, but I would strongly prefer to have you on it, you being our best detective."

"I- no! That's alright. I'll do the case, I'll do the case." It all comes out a bit louder than I had hoped and his face looked stunned.

"If you say so." He handed the case file to me "you know were the shop is, everyone does."

And with that I am swept out of the office and on the biggest case of the decade.


	3. Chapter 2

To be honest, my boss happened to be the only one I worked with who knew I was a woman. After I had aided in solving a few murders, he knew that he had to have me on the job. I had to disguise myself as a man every day, but in the end, it's all worth it. Solving crimes and putting the bad guys in prison is what I live for.  
Once I was dropped off at the scene by a carriage I looked around. Last time I had seen the place it had been a wreck, but looking beyond the crowd of curious onlookers standing in the front, the place had true beauty, and I was amazed.  
"Detective Duckseth," a burly man that went by the name of George walked through the shop door. "We've been waiting for you."  
"Is it really that bad?"  
"Everyone I've talked to has thought so, but you'll have to see for yourself. You are the best in London."  
Smiling at him politely I waltzed through the front door. The place smelled of lavender, pies and something horrid, which I'm guessing was probably something dead with a hint of burnt flesh.  
The whole room was buzzing with photographers, newspaper writers, M.E.'s and police. It took around ten minutes to reach the staircase leading to the cellar, where the case file said the bodies were.  
Horrible smells growing stronger as I went, I walked down the stairs and opened the giant door to find the mess that I had been warned about.  
There in the middle of the room sat a man with hair that looked like a hat made out of skunk leaning over a ratty looking woman, the both had their throats slit. Getting a closer look at him I could recognise that his slit looked rather wimpy compared to the woman's. He was clutching her, it looked like his throat was cut while he was holding onto her, her face was covered in blood. Poor thing.  
I stood up straight again, tutting softly under my breath, when I saw the bones. So many, scattered everywhere in piles. Bloody things leaning up against each other. Smaller parts that took more time to pick apart were laid on shelves just next to what I recognised as old pies. Whomever had taken the bodies apart wanted every last piece of flesh, which I noticed there was no sign of...the pies. The flesh was in the pies. Oh, Nellie.  
Speaking of Nellie... I looked around more, she had been burned in a furnace... Over there. I slowly picked my way over to it and looked inside. I gasped and started to gag. That couldn't be her. That couldn't possibly be her, but it was. Her dress and corset were burnt to nothing but small bits of wire and metal. Her once crazy hair was completely gone and so was everything else but her bones. Unbelievable.  
More bodies were in a corner, under a trapped door. Some looked as though they had been dropped on their head, probably through the trapped door. They were all people who had gone missing. The judge looked as though he had still been alive before being finish off by having his throat cut.  
I turned to a Medical Examiner. "Do you know what the weapon was?"  
"It looks to be a razor, we think that those used to shave upstairs were used on everyone that is dead down here, except the baker." He gestured towards the furnace.  
I nodded and turned to the stairs to head to the barber shop, I wanted to know were that trapped door came from.  
No one was up there, just me. Messy place compared to the bright little bakery on the ground floor.  
On the wall to my left there was a small living space. I walked in that direction first and lifted a blanket on a small baby bed to reveal an old, dirty doll with pleading eyes, asking for someone to pick her up and love her again.  
On the opposite side I saw the small barber shop setup with the chair sitting by a large window. I walked in that direction, if the slits were made with razors, then this had to be the place.  
I was right. Right under the barber chair was a small machine with a pedal and... the trapped door. I uncertainly pressed the pedal and...  
CRASH!  
It fell open, revealing the bodies in the cellar. This case was bigger than we had thought.


End file.
